On Monday, we drove from Toronto up to Ottawa, with a detour to Sandbanks Provincial Park. Unfortunately we did not visit the park itself!
Here is our drive on Monday...
Monday's drive, 456 kms (283 miles).
Long drive for us, but in our little VW Golf rental car it goes a little faster than when we're in the motorhome. Still, we left at about 10:30am and didn't arrive at Ruth's father's place until 6:00pm.
Like I said, we took a detour into Prince Edward County and we were going to go for a walk in Sandbanks Provincial Park. We had incorrectly assumed that because it was October 1st that there would no longer be a day use fee, but we arrived at the gate to find an attendant there who wanted to charge us $11.50 CAD to go in for a walk. No thanks!
So we drove on. Nice enough country drive though.
Pumpkins for sale.
The leaves are late changing color.
Some nice small towns to drive through.
We stopped at the Deseronto Mohawk Indian Reserve to buy gasoline. They pass on part of their tax exempt status to customers driving through and we were able to buy for $1.11 CAD per liter ($3.29 USD per gallon) which is pretty cheap for up here in Canada!
The Indians aren't hesitating to jump on the marijuana bandwagon as weed becomes legal up here across Canada on October 17th...
Getting ready for October 17th.
Then, it was up to Ruth's dad's house in Galetta. We'll stay there for the most part because it's close to where he's living in the retirement home so we can go visit him. But we'll also go stay with our daughter a few nights.
We went and visited her dad yesterday morning for an hour, then into Ottawa to visit my mom for an hour. Then down to the village of Osgoode 20 minutes south of Ottawa to see our daughter, son in law, and the grandkids.
Today, we're heading back to Galetta. Good thing we have unlimited kilometers on the rental car!
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Record low price on the Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet.
And in Canada...
Love country drives & hunting for treasures at thrift stores
ReplyDeleteYep, it is fun driving through some of these small towns rather than driving on the boring freeway/Interstate.
DeleteLove that area around Sandbanks we have camped there many times 20 years ago when you could afford to go to a provincial park, not really not in our budget at all. Enjoy your family time in Ottawa.
ReplyDeleteWe know a lot of people that have camped there over the years but unfortunately we never did and it looks like we never will. Not only is is expensive but they are normally sold out before the camping season even begins, it is certainly one of the most popular provincial parks in Ontario. Glad you got to enjoy it when camping was still the cheap there.
DeleteThese day costs are crazy. I used to stop at a state park in Delaware to eat lunch when I was working. Then 20 years ago they started charging just to stop long enough to eat. I think the park you managed charges a day use fee as well. I think these day use fees often cause a loss as they often pay someone extra just to collect it. We had areas managed by the utilities in Pa that were supposed to provide recreation for using the river to generate power for years. Many of them started charging a day use fee and some tried to close down.
ReplyDeleteWe totally agree with you and it seems that we are also way out of touch with prices these days. We balk at prices of certain things whereas others don't even flinch. It seems to be at stuff that we don't normally spend money on like movies, drinks out, meals out and of course campground prices.
DeleteYes, the park we managed also had day use fees but they also had a very reasonable park pass that was good for the whole season at all the regional parks in the province of Saskatchewan and most of the clientele we locals so they all bought the season pass. We did the same thing when we were in Texas last year and then made good use of the park pass, it certainly paid for itself, however the Ontario summertime vehicle permit is $125 from April 1st to November 30th. We find that expensive versus the Saskatchewan region park pass at $45. We personally like the idea of being able to just go into a park and go for a hike without having to pay extra, one of the many reasons why we loved the British Columbia Provincial Parks. :-)